On-Time Report

Routes › Sacramento (SMF) › SMF to LAS

Route · 12 months to July 2026

Sacramento to Las Vegas: on-time record

Sacramento International to Harry Reid International

79.4%arrived on time

BTS: A flight is counted as on time if it arrived less than 15 minutes after its scheduled time. Only carriers with at least 0.5 percent of domestic scheduled passenger revenue report. Data through July 2026; this is a monthly history, not live flight status.

79.4% of scheduled SMF to LAS flights arrived on time in the 12 months to July 2026. The figure covers 4,114 flights between Sacramento and Las Vegas by carriers that report to BTS, a distance of 397 miles.

That is 3.4 points above the national on-time share of 76.0% for the same period and 2.0 points below the 81.4% recorded for all departures from SMF. Flights that did arrive were 5.6 min late on average, and 0.6% of scheduled flights were cancelled (national: 1.8%).

4 reporting carriers flew the route at least 60 times. SkyWest Airlines had the highest on-time share at 90.7% of 313 flights; Frontier Airlines had the lowest at 76.3% of 228.

By scheduled departure hour (local time at SMF), flights leaving from 5 am to 6 am had the highest on-time share, 96.0%; those leaving from 9 pm to 10 pm had the lowest, 59.1%.

The on-time share is down 3.2 points on the previous 12 months (82.6%); cancellations moved from 0.5% to 0.6%.

Of the delay minutes that carriers assigned to a BTS cause category on this route, late-arriving aircraft 54%, air carrier 24% and national aviation system 19%.

79.4%arrived on timenational 76.0%
5.6 minaverage arrival delayearly arrivals count as negative; national 8.1 min
0.6%cancellednational 1.8%
343flights a month4,114 in 12 months · 397 miles
Every scheduled SMF to LAS flight by a reporting carrier, August 2025 to July 2026.

Airlines on the route compared

Reporting carrierFlightsShareOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
WN Southwest Airlines3,44484%78.4%6.5 min0.4%
OO SkyWest Airlines3138%90.7%-5.9 min1.9%
F9 Frontier Airlines2286%76.3%9.5 min1.3%
NK Spirit Airlines1293%84.5%2.5 min0.8%

Carriers with at least 24 flights in the 12 months to July 2026. The on-time pill is green when a carrier is at or above the route's overall share. Regional carriers operate flights sold under larger airlines' brands; BTS lists the carrier that operated the flight.

Compared with the airports and the nation

MeasureSMF to LASAll departures from SMFAll arrivals at LASAll reported flights
Arrived on time79.4%81.4%77.6%76.0%
Arrived 15+ minutes late20.0%17.7%21.4%21.9%
Cancelled0.6%0.7%0.9%1.8%
Diverted0.1%0.2%0.1%0.3%
Average arrival delay5.6 min3.1 min5.9 min8.1 min
Delay minutes per 100 flights1,2111,1171,4561,684
Scheduled flights4,11456,306172,9447,043,858

12 months to July 2026. Delay minutes count late arrivals only (an early arrival is zero), so the per-100-flights row is a normalised total rather than an average of early and late.

The return direction, LAS to SMF, recorded 78.1% on time across 4,123 flights in the same period.

Month by month

100%columns start at 40%
Share of scheduled SMF to LAS flights that arrived on time, Aug 2023 to Jul 2026. Green columns are at or above the national figure for that month (the dark tick), amber below it, red more than eight points below.

Year on year: on time 79.4% against 82.6% (−3.2 pts), cancelled 0.6% against 0.5%, flights 4,114 against 5,545.

By scheduled departure hour

On-time share:under 62%6270768288% and over
Share of flights that arrived on time, by the hour they were scheduled to leave SMF (local time), 12 months to July 2026. Faded cells have few flights. Hover or tap a cell for counts.

Delay causes

BTS cause categoryShare of delay minutesNationalMinutes
Air carrier23.6%33.3%10,731
Late-arriving aircraft54.4%39.7%24,690
National Aviation System19.4%20.7%8,800
Extreme weather2.5%6.1%1,116
Security0.1%0.1%51
45,388 delay minutes on 821 flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late and carried a cause report. Carriers assign the categories; see what each category means.

Seasonality

Calendar monthFlightsOn timeCancelledAvg arrival delayYears in sample
Jan1,17582.9%0.6%3.1 min3
Feb1,09283.2%0.9%3.2 min3
Mar1,24978.6%1.0%7.2 min3
Apr1,25981.3%0.0%5.6 min3
May1,29781.1%0.3%4.2 min3
Jun1,24877.2%0.8%6.4 min3
Jul1,26774.3%1.3%10.5 min3
Aug1,38778.4%1.6%6.9 min3
Sep1,35280.0%1.0%6.1 min3
Oct1,39278.3%0.1%5.7 min3
Nov1,30284.6%0.9%1.6 min3
Dec1,29083.7%0.5%2.5 min3

Each calendar month summed across the 36 months on file, so most rows combine three years. The pill compares the month with the route's own 12-month share.

Other routes from Sacramento (SMF)

RouteCitiesFlightsOn timeAvg arrival delayCancelled
SMF–LAXSacramento to Los Angeles5,64385.1%1.0 min0.4%
SMF–SANSacramento to San Diego5,18071.1%11.0 min1.0%
SMF–SEASacramento to Seattle4,39082.3%-0.6 min0.3%
SMF–DENSacramento to Denver3,84582.7%2.7 min0.3%
SMF–PHXSacramento to Phoenix3,63080.6%5.4 min0.6%
SMF–BURSacramento to Burbank2,60683.5%0.0 min1.8%
SMF–SNASacramento to Santa Ana2,31084.0%0.3 min0.3%
SMF–SLCSacramento to Salt Lake City2,16086.6%-1.6 min0.8%

All 45 routes and the airport record for SMF · airport record for LAS

Questions and answers

How often are flights from Sacramento to Las Vegas on time?

79.4% of the 4,114 flights scheduled from SMF to LAS in the 12 months to July 2026 arrived less than 15 minutes after their scheduled time. The national share for the same period was 76.0%. Cancelled and diverted flights count as not on time.

Which airline has the highest on-time share from SMF to LAS?

Among reporting carriers with at least 60 flights on the route, SkyWest Airlines had the highest on-time share (90.7%), followed by Spirit Airlines (84.5%) and Southwest Airlines (78.4%). Differences of a point or two on a few hundred flights are small.

What causes delays between Sacramento and Las Vegas?

For flights that arrived 15 or more minutes late, carriers attributed the delay minutes as follows: late-arriving aircraft 54%, air carrier 24%, national aviation system 19%, extreme weather 3%, security 0%. The categories are the carriers' own reports to BTS; weather that slows the wider system is usually recorded under the National Aviation System rather than extreme weather.

What time of day has the highest on-time share from SMF?

Flights scheduled to leave SMF from 5 am to 6 am arrived on time 96.0% of the time, the highest of any hour with enough flights to compare. The lowest was 9 pm to 10 pm at 59.1%. Delays tend to build through the day as late aircraft carry over to later flights.

Is it getting better?

The on-time share for the 12 months to July 2026 was 79.4%, down 3.2 points on the previous 12 months (82.6%). The monthly chart on this page shows each of the last 36 months. Across those months, November had the highest on-time share (84.6%) and July the lowest (74.3%).

Where does this data come from?

Every figure is computed from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance files, which list each scheduled domestic flight by the carriers required to report. This page covers August 2023 to July 2026. It shows totals and averages only; it is not a live flight-status service.

Provenance

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Reporting Carrier On-Time Performance (1987 to present), monthly files August 2023 to July 2026, a US government work in the public domain. Figures are totals and averages over all scheduled flights by reporting carriers on the route; no individual flight or aircraft is identified. Times are local to the departure airport. The load factor and passenger counts from the BTS T-100 series are not included in this edition. See the methodology; report processing errors through corrections.